Three books that changed my life
Identifying my favorite book, music, movie, or female hair colour remains a challenge. Recently visited subjects or people often occupy more prominence in your thoughts than events that occurred years ago. That being said, there are three books that help define the way I see society at large, humans at large and success in the modern (post 1950) world.
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Guns, Germs and Steel won the Pulitzer Prize and the author, Jared Diamond, is widely recognized as an important intellectual. Though my endorsement of the book will not affect its sales, I must say that it had an important impact on me when I read it four years ago.
The book attempts (rather successfully) to explain why Europe, Asia, Africa and the rest of the world developed the way they did. The main contributing factors are boiled down to geography, domesticable animals (pigs and chickens for protein and disease immunology; cows, horses and ox for work power), domesticable plants (rice, wheat: carbohydrates), proximity of enemies, and proximity of allies.
The real impact of this book is that it removes – at least for me – any notion of racism or inherent supremacy. The explanations provided are logical, factual and fit with basic evolutionary theory. Once you have examined the arguments, you may find it difficult to criticize Africa or Asia for their current state of affairs.
The book also lead me to conclude that if Asians had colonized North America prior to Europeans, the massacres would not have been any different. Largely it satisfies a lingering feeling most of us have but are unable to answer without the scent of racism: why are whites on top?
The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature was a New York Times Notable book and built upon evolutionary theories by Richard Dawkins and others. The basic premise is that our genes and more importantly, their desire to propagate, is the determining factor of our actions. The book synthesizes innumerable studies on a variety of animals. As with most amazing books, it manages to create a coherent picture out of thousands of different scientific voices.
The applications of the findings are wide ranging from mating rituals to social interactions and power struggles. This book answered a lingering question that I could not adequately address, why do humans do stupid things? By stupid, I simply mean things that are not logical on the surface: mating with a poor person, an ugly person, destroying the environment, allowing a powerful young prodigy to overtake the master, monogamy, social structures, fiefdom, and a million other trends. Now, I tend to believe in evolutionary biology (though it has a few gaps) and its application to human behavior patterns. Amazing stuff!
Good to Great: What makes some companies make the leap and others don’t is a great description of what it takes to create company and make a difference in the modern world. Based on 5 years of research by Jim Collins and his management sleuths the book outlines what makes a great company (and probably society): A level 5 leader without an ego, great people (not great skills), scalability, perfect execution of one task, simple metrics to analyze success, the willingness to face the facts and debate without hard feelings and the use of technology as an accelerator, but not as an end all.
The end story is that simplicity and deduction is what matters in business and life.
UPDATE: I have changed my mind and am no longer certain that this book is any good, let alone great.
Published on January 11, 2007Women, China, and The Male Superiority Complex
I am by no means a player or ladies man. That being said, I have met my fair share of women and my time in China was somewhat of an eye opener.
First, Beijing is huge and second, Chinese girls seem not to care that much about infidelity. In general, people do not wear wedding rings and their relatio1nships are often ‘open’. It has become very common throughout Asia for women to not marry as they feel it interferes with their careers. In large cities, married couples often live in separate apartments and spend their weekends together, their weeks apart. With increased divorce rates in the west and an ever-increasing expected life-span, one has to wonder about the relevance of marriage or monogamy in our modern world.
In our globalized, industrialized and commercialized world – we come into contact with more information, products and people than ever before. As an individual, I have met more people from different backgrounds than my parents or their parents or their parents before them.
This increase in social meetings should mathematically lead to more sexual meetings. Globally, the average person has 3.5 sexual partners in their lifetime, this statistic is more elevated in the industrialized world and even more so in urban centers. Short of the obvious disease argument, what is fundamentally wrong with having more relationships?
One could argue this behavior is morally wrong and god may indeed send me to hell. Yet, morals are simply rules set down to help guide an individual through the trials and tribulations of life. In reality, they are more of a guide than a strict ‘rule’. As long as you do no harm onto others – what is wrong with your actions? Perhaps I am young, untainted by love and simply acting on primal animal instincts; not unlike a child. In the film Wedding Crashers the main character states, “One day we will look back on all this and say, we were young and stupid” and contrary to Vince and Owen (the actors in the film), I am young.
It does not feel that bad misleading girls about my age, 28 or 25 depending on circumstance; though untrue, their hesitance to engage is based on a false social constraint – so the lie is really to their benefit. While that logic may indeed be tenuous, the scariest thing about male-female relationships is the conquest aspect.
Men tend to regard getting laid as an accomplishment, akin to a good grade at school. It is an ego booster and a way of demonstrating their manliness. In many instances, the conquest of a night out on the town is more rewarding than the actual sex, which tends to be mediocre with any first time partner. Truthfully, with the right pick-up techniques, nearly any girl is obtainable. Seminars and books concerning the pursuit of carnal pleasure are easily accessible; techniques such as Neuro Linguistic Programming, Hypnosis and associative behavior have been molded into guides to pick-up women.
Online forums (such as The Lay Guide discuss techniques, successes and failure. This modern devotion to conquering the opposite sex is perhaps the clearest demonstration of the male’s primal need to sleep with women, regardless of ‘love’. The recent book The Game, lays out techniques and societies devoted to picking up women and dealing with various situations. Yet, the conclusion of the book falls into line with the old adage of love persevering over the hollow existence of bachelorhood.
At my high school, my Athletics director had a stone on his desk with the saying “Winners Never Quit and Quitters Never Win”. Besides the fact that may be really cheesy and rhetorical, it is pretty damn accurate. In China or other non-western countries, this applies even more so. Not so much because the Chinese are inherently promiscuous – rather it is the increased confidence of foreigners. Most westerners obtain an air of superiority upon their arrival – they are more experienced, wealthier and worldlier than the vast majority of the local population.
These characteristics make the men much more confident in their abilities and their lack of integration with the local society dramatically reduces their concern for rejection or failure with local women. I have met numerous foreigners who claim to not be able to meet locals, they are no less wealthy or western – they simply do not extract that air of confidence from their relative (yet false) superiority. Let me make it clear: this colonial white-man-knows-all-attitude is disgusting; completely wrong and more harmful than most people tend to think. Yet, this confidence is what distinguishes the alpha males from the pack.
The book Confession of an Economic Hitman is the biography of an individual with very little economic background. He rose quickly to the top of the pack by delivering his presentations and reports with all the confidence in the world. Veteran economists and bankers would eventually accept his conclusions, though loosely based, because of his level of confidence.
On same level, many women enjoy a man who is cocky, arrogant and full of himself – all superficial demonstrations of confidence. Someone who is confident, relates to our basic desire of being told what to do, how to do it and when to do it. The degrees of confidence are of course varied and over-confidence can destroy someone. However, it is usually, though not always, the confident who rise to the top; they really are form of social father figure.
Our social drowning of information, products and people is part of the reason America has leaned towards one-liners and tough talking leaders such as George W. Unfortunately, the modern corporate machine has killed the feminist movement by introducing bootie shaking hoes, gangsta pimps, and male athlete superstars. Just as a society yearns for stability and guidance, so do many women. The few places where woman take a more prominent role in society are outside North America – Asia primarily, Continental Western Europe, and Africa. In many ways, the future of Africa seems to lie with the women; the men have been unable to reform their societies and crime continiues to plague their countries. The women, on the other hand, have been at the centre of most of the positive community work. Similarly, in Asia, the women play a central role in the workplace and are less pone to fall into the submissive role.
A woman who does not have a strong desire to be independent as the centre of her personal values is of no interest to me. Someone who cannot intellectually stand on their own two feet is going to be no more than a passing pretty face.
One of the original posts that put me on this subject is a thread on SinoSplice about Chinese-Western relationships and the accompanying social views: Sinosplice Post
Here is the comment I posted in relation to the above-mentioned article:
Ummm… Well I think that first post is a little over the top. Most of these women are just trying to escape their horrible situations, and if that means getting with some old dude then that’s what they do. I am not saying it is right or wrong, but rather inevitable. And the idea that they cannot love each other is a little silly. You definitely get mixed responses from the local population when they see a white man (regardless of age) with a Chinese girl. Certainly, an old white dude with a young girl elicits more stares. But there is not shortage of people trying to set me up with Chinese girls. That being said, the chinese girls that I do see are not interested in money or a visa. When I first got to China, I thought that would be the case, but in the case of the
young chinese girl – white guy situation; I genuinely feel that the chinese girl prefers the white dude because of various things that are more prevalent in western culture. I have had so many chinese girls tell me they really do not like chinese guys and would love to be with a foreigner.
This country has much bigger problems than old white men picking up young women. Concentrate on human rights, environmental issues and distribution of wealth rather than on issues that feed your nationalistic fever – which will eventually destroy this place, just as it did to Germany, USSR, …
Cool Blog, keep up the good work.
I think my comment was a general overview of my findings. To break it down in a more organized manner, people typically view Chinese girls with white men as girls who want one of the following:
1. A Visa/Passport
2. Money
3. Status
While this is pretty true when you see an old white man with a young Chinese (read under developed country) I do not feel it applies to an equal age couple. In general, the women are attracted to the foreigners confidence, his worldly experience and his association with the ‘hollywoodian’ male ideal. What is that Hollywood style and why would they be attracted to it?
Now, having read the book, The Red Queen Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley, I am event more confident that human sexual relations are precarious at best. Men conquer and women want the strongest man for their genetic superiority – even if this means marrying someone less strong for the benefits of child rearing and then cheating on them with someone more powerful (read rich) or good looking (read hot).
The peacock theory is well explained and can be extrapolated to why the type of girls that are found attractive today are. The peacocks that are coveted are the ones with the brightest feathers, longest tales and most elaborate bodies. All of these characteristics are detrimental to their survival in the wild – they slow them down and make them more visible to predators. So why would female peacocks want such features for their offspring?
Simply put, they want these bright feathers for their offspring because they see other females are attracted to these features. Thus, if their kids do not have long tails and bright feathers, the future generation of females will not chase after their sons. There are other theories that add onto this logic, but it does have some merit towards explaining why gangsta pimps are in style and why trends catch on.
The argument goes further to say that all our actions, down to our platonic relationships are demonstrations of our genes desire to propagate with as many people as possible. Yet, while at the same time ensuring that the genes are not propagated in vain and that the children go on to live successful dominant lives. There is no point in trying to summarize the book, its innumerable examples and brilliant conjectures – best that you take a look at it yourself.
So, it is your genes that push you towards promiscuity and dominance – don’t fight it.
I am by no means a player or ladies man. That being said, I have met my fair share of women and my time in China was somewhat of an eye opener. In China I was seeing four good-looking girls on a methodical rotation; and let me tell you, it was great. This task was remarkably easy and was never in jeopardy of failure.
First, Beijing is huge and second, Chinese girls seem not to care that much about infidelity. In general, people do not wear wedding rings and their relationships are often ‘open’. It has become very common throughout Asia for women to not marry as they feel it interferes with their careers. In large cities, married couples often live in separate apartments and spend their weekends together, their weeks apart. With increased divorce rates in the west and an ever-increasing expected life-span, one has to wonder about the relevance of marriage or monogamy in our modern world.
In our globalized, industrialized and commercialized world – we come into contact with more information, products and people than ever before. As an individual, I have met more people from different backgrounds than my parents or their parents or their parents before them.
This increase in social meetings should mathematically lead to more sexual meetings. Globally, the average person has 3.5 sexual partners in their lifetime, this statistic is more elevated in the industrialized world and even more so in urban centers. Short of the obvious disease argument, what is fundamentally wrong with having more relationships?
One could argue this behavior is morally wrong and god may indeed send me to hell. Yet, morals are simply rules set down to help guide an individual through the trials and tribulations of life. In reality, they are more of a guide than a strict ‘rule’. As long as you do no harm onto others – what is wrong with your actions? Perhaps I am young, untainted by love and simply acting on primal animal instincts; not unlike a child. In the film Wedding Crashers the main character states, “One day we will look back on all this and say, we were young and stupid” and contrary to Vince and Owen (the actors in the film), I am young.
It does not feel that bad misleading girls about my age, 28 or 25 depending on circumstance; though untrue, their hesitance to engage is based on a false social constraint – so the lie is really to their benefit. While that logic may indeed be tenuous, the scariest thing about male-female relationships is the conquest aspect.
Men tend to regard getting laid as an accomplishment, akin to a good grade at school. It is an ego booster and a way of demonstrating their manliness. In many instances, the conquest of a night out on the town is more rewarding than the actual sex, which tends to be mediocre with any first time partner. Truthfully, with the right pick-up techniques, nearly any girl is obtainable. Seminars and books concerning the pursuit of carnal pleasure are easily accessible; techniques such as Neuro Linguistic Programming, Hypnosis and associative behavior have been molded into guides to pick-up women.
Online forums (such as The Lay Guide discuss techniques, successes and failure. This modern devotion to conquering the opposite sex is perhaps the clearest demonstration of the male’s primal need to sleep with women, regardless of ‘love’. The recent book The Game, lays out techniques and societies devoted to picking up women and dealing with various situations. Yet, the conclusion of the book falls into line with the old adage of love persevering over the hollow existence of bachelorhood.
At my high school, my Athletics director had a stone on his desk with the saying “Winners Never Quit and Quitters Never Win”. Besides the fact that may be really cheesy and rhetorical, it is pretty damn accurate. In China or other non-western countries, this applies even more so. Not so much because the Chinese are inherently promiscuous – rather it is the increased confidence of foreigners. Most westerners obtain an air of superiority upon their arrival – they are more experienced, wealthier and worldlier than the vast majority of the local population.
These characteristics make the men much more confident in their abilities and their lack of integration with the local society dramatically reduces their concern for rejection or failure with local women. I have met numerous foreigners who claim to not be able to meet locals, they are no less wealthy or western – they simply do not extract that air of confidence from their relative (yet false) superiority. Let me make it clear: this colonial white-man-knows-all-attitude is disgusting; completely wrong and more harmful than most people tend to think. Yet, this confidence is what distinguishes the alpha males from the pack.
The book Confession of an Economic Hitman is the biography of an individual with very little economic background. He rose quickly to the top of the pack by delivering his presentations and reports with all the confidence in the world. Veteran economists and bankers would eventually accept his conclusions, though loosely based, because of his level of confidence.
On same level, many women enjoy a man who is cocky, arrogant and full of himself – all superficial demonstrations of confidence. Someone who is confident, relates to our basic desire of being told what to do, how to do it and when to do it. The degrees of confidence are of course varied and over-confidence can destroy someone. However, it is usually, though not always, the confident who rise to the top; they really are form of social father figure.
Our social drowning of information, products and people is part of the reason America has leaned towards one-liners and tough talking leaders such as George W. Unfortunately, the modern corporate machine has killed the feminist movement by introducing bootie shaking hoes, gangsta pimps, and male athlete superstars. Just as a society yearns for stability and guidance, so do many women. The few places where woman take a more prominent role in society are outside North America – Asia primarily, Continental Western Europe, and Africa. In many ways, the future of Africa seems to lie with the women; the men have been unable to reform their societies and crime continiues to plague their countries. The women, on the other hand, have been at the centre of most of the positive community work. Similarly, in Asia, the women play a central role in the workplace and are less pone to fall into the submissive role.
A woman who does not have a strong desire to be independent as the centre of her personal values is of no interest to me. Someone who cannot intellectually stand on their own two feet is going to be no more than a passing pretty face.
One of the original posts that put me on this subject is a thread on SinoSplice about Chinese-Western relationships and the accompanying social views: Sinosplice Post
Here is the comment I posted in relation to the above-mentioned article:
Ummm… Well I think that first post is a little over the top. Most of these women are just trying to escape their horrible situations, and if that means getting with some old dude then that’s what they do. I am not saying it is right or wrong, but rather inevitable. And the idea that they cannot love each other is a little silly. You definitely get mixed responses from the local population when they see a white man (regardless of age) with a Chinese girl. Certainly, an old white dude with a young girl elicits more stares. But there is not shortage of people trying to set me up with Chinese girls. That being said, the chinese girls that I do see are not interested in money or a visa. When I first got to China, I thought that would be the case, but in the case of the
young chinese girl – white guy situation; I genuinely feel that the chinese girl prefers the white dude because of various things that are more prevalent in western culture. I have had so many chinese girls tell me they really do not like chinese guys and would love to be with a foreigner. This country has much bigger problems than old white men picking up young women. Concentrate on human rights, environmental issues and distribution of wealth rather than on issues that feed your nationalistic fever – which will eventually destroy this place, just as it did to Germany, USSR, … Cool Blog, keep up the good work.
I think my comment was a general overview of my findings. To break it down in a more organized manner, people typically view Chinese girls with white men as girls who want one of the following:
1. A Visa/Passport
2. Money
3. Status
While this is pretty true when you see an old white man with a young Chinese (read under developed country) I do not feel it applies to an equal age couple. In general, the women are attracted to the foreigners confidence, his worldly experience and his association with the ‘hollywoodian’ male ideal. What is that Hollywood style and why would they be attracted to it?
Now, having read the book, The Red Queen Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley, I am event more confident that human sexual relations are precarious at best. Men conquer and women want the strongest man for their genetic superiority – even if this means marrying someone less strong for the benefits of child rearing and then cheating on them with someone more powerful (read rich) or good looking (read hot).
The peacock theory is well explained and can be extrapolated to why the type of girls that are found attractive today are. The peacocks that are coveted are the ones with the brightest feathers, longest tales and most elaborate bodies. All of these characteristics are detrimental to their survival in the wild – they slow them down and make them more visible to predators. So why would female peacocks want such features for their offspring?
Simply put, they want these bright feathers for their offspring because they see other females are attracted to these features. Thus, if their kids do not have long tails and bright feathers, the future generation of females will not chase after their sons. There are other theories that add onto this logic, but it does have some merit towards explaining why gangsta pimps are in style and why trends catch on.
The argument goes further to say that all our actions, down to our platonic relationships are demonstrations of our genes desire to propagate with as many people as possible. Yet, while at the same time ensuring that the genes are not propagated in vain and that the children go on to live successful dominant lives. There is no point in trying to summarize the book, its innumerable examples and brilliant conjectures – best that you take a look at it yourself.
So, it is your genes that push you towards promiscuity and dominance – don’t fight it.
Published on December 7, 2006Turkey Photos
Published on November 23, 2006
Ellie Weisel, Man of the 20th Century
I just saw Ellie Weisel give a speech in Montreal. I had read his book Night, which is an account of his experience in and around Aushwitz.
He was 15.
You can find my review Here.
I expected to be impressed by Mr. Weisel, but his discourse, logic and poetics simply blew me away. He was the most well spoken individual I have ever heard. He pleaded for hope, patience and caring. All war is bad, all hate is bad, all death is bad. Only through dialogue and genuine efforts of understanding, will we be able to overcome our differences.
Ellie Weisel mentioned that life is not made up of years, but rather moments. There is not much I can say that would add to what he said, so here are a few of my favorite moments during the speech (which was in French):
Ne laisse pas son espoir devenir le désespoir d’un autre
Don’t let your hope become the despair of another
Les politiques c’est comme la guerre, on sait très bien comment commencer, mais on ne sait pas comment arrêter.
Politics is like war, we all know how to start, buit no one knows how to stop
L’indifférence est un problème central au monde
Indifference is a fundamental problem in the world
Ne tolérer pas les gens, ça suppose une grande arrogance; plutôt, il faut respecter les gens, les idées, les religions, tout.
Don’t tolerate people, it presupposes an arrogance of superiority; instead, respect them, their ideas, their religion, everything.
In response to how an educated nation like Germany went down the path of fascisim :
Peut-etre la science de la propagande a depaser l’education
Maybe the science of propaganda passed the level of education
Les fonctions d’un individu sont remplaçables, mais pas l’individu. Un individu n’est jamais remplaçable.
A person’s functions are replaceable, but not the person. No individual is replaceable.
Ellie Weisel’s Foundation is found Here
Published on November 15, 2006Government Role in the Environment
A debate has erupted regarding whether sound environmental behaviour and a responsibility to curb global warming lies with the individual or with the government. Do the hones to help the environment lie with the consumer? Is it your fault global warming is occurring because you have not invested in a low-emission car or a hybrid vehicle? Or should the blame lie with the government who has not set stringent standards or put in place regulations that encourage responsible behaviour?
Despite scientific consensus and a large social awareness, our federal government has not done its part. Prime Minister Harper’s new plan seems to follow in the footsteps of George W. Bush’s, relegating difficult choices to the next government and the next generation. While progress is being made on the provincial and state level, the central governments of both Canada and America have not honoured their moral obligations. Nevertheless, we must, as citizens, stop blaming our elected officials and find a new way of addressing our pending environmental disaster.
There is no doubt that a general social conscience regarding the environment has arisen over the past few years. This is largely due to the tireless efforts of activists and scientists who have been sounding the alarm bell for over four decades. Centuries from now, if we are successful, their work will be regarded as some of the most important work ever done. The question we must now identify is how to address the problem of our impact on the environment without compromising our quality of life.
The free-market optimist perspective is that the market will regulate itself. They argue that when the consumer becomes sufficiently concerned with the environment, he will demand that companies modify their business practices or risk losing his business. My personal spending habits demonstrate this perspective’s fallacy. I have not personally experienced any negative effects due to my consumption, yet I (along with a significant part of society) have elected to purchase more organic food, lower emission cars and produce less waste. However, we must understand that the average individual, lacking time to research products, has spending habits which are a product of circumstance.
The first type of circumstance is the past circumstance. On a development side, scientists generally agree that an individual’s character is 50% genetic and 50% environmental. Judith Harris, author of The Nurture Assumption, has convincingly argued that the part of ourselves that is a product of upbringing is tied mostly to the schools we attend, the neighbourhood we grow up in and the friends we have. As long as our family life is relatively normal – loving parents, lack of abuse and basic nurturing – half of our personal traits are tied to the environment outside the home that we grow up in, the other half is genetic.
Pushing the idea even farther; according to drop out rates and delinquencies, a child is better off in a broken home and healthy social environment than in a good home and bad social environment. The application of this principle is that if we surround our children with healthy environmental options such as recycling, sustainable products and energy efficient appliances, we will be much more likely to use them. We are a product of our environment; thus, the environment we create is the environment we will breed.
The second type of circumstance is the present circumstance. Confronted with a purchasing dilemma, it is the circumstances that dictate our decisions, not our principles or ideals. One example is Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, who famously told a supplier of toothpaste that if marked his product 10 cents higher than a competitor’s, he would not sell a single tube. The supplier, convinced of his product’s superiority, insisted that his product be placed next to the competitor’s and be marked with a slightly higher price. After months of lacklustre sales, the supplier succumbed to the reality and dropped his price. The average individual, who lacks the time or desire to examine the quality and sourcing or a product, will nearly always go for the less expensive version. As sad as this may sound, there is hope.
Some will argue that we are moral beings who base part of our decisions on our personal convictions; John Daley and Daniel Batson at the Princeton Theological Seminary did a pertinent study highlighted in the book The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. They gathered a group of seminarians and asked each one to prepare a talk and fill out questionnaires concerning their personal convictions. Each individual was held in a closed room and told that they had a meeting on the other side of the street where they would deliver their talk. Then, they were told that they should leave and had a few minutes to spare or that they were already late and should hurry up.
Outside the building where their meeting was to be held, the test organizers placed a homeless man who would wheeze and cough when a test subject walked. The test was repeated numerous times and the end result demonstrated the determining factor of whether an individual stopped to aid the man was his time constraint, not his personal background or convictions. Of those seminarians in a rush, 10% stopped, whereas when they had time to spare, 63% stopped. This helps demonstrate that our actions are largely determined by present circumstances. Whether we buy a hybrid car, low consumption light bulbs or recycled paper is tied to their ease of access and price, not consumer awareness or principles.
Another example of current circumstance is a test done in two Home Depot stores in Oregon. When a sign indicating environmentally friendly practices were used to harvest lumber and the lumber was the same price as non-certified version, people were dramatically more likely to purchase the certified lumber (2 to 1). When the certified wood was 2% more expensive than non-certified lumber, the consumer was more likely to purchase the cheaper wood; though a large portion (37%) purchased the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) labelled wood. A large portion of consumers are morally conscience and willing to pay a premium when they know it is for a good product, but they have to know it is.
These sociological studies may not be directly pertinent to environmental behaviour, yet they convincingly demonstrate that we are creatures of circumstance. The items and environment that surround us are the determining factor in our decisions. No matter what awareness we may have, the price and availability of environmentally friendly solutions is the key factor.
It is essential for us to recognize the role of government in relation to environmental regulation. The government’s role in regulating and offering aid and subsidies has dramatically reduced over the past decade. In its place, we have seen an emergence of NGOs (Non Government Organizations) and NPOs (Non Profit Organizations) who perform a variety of tasks in our society and abroad. Certification-type NGOs such as Organic Foods, Forest Stewardship Council, Fair-Trade, Eco Logo and Energy Star have offered us practical ways of evaluating a product’s impact on the environment. In the United States, the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) relies heavily on private consultants to formulate policies. The Canadian government must rely on such organizations, who have developed practical expertise, to implement plans for more environmentally friendly regulations.
The most immediate area where government can play a role is by introducing the cost of externalities. Pertaining to global warming, we need to create carbon credits based on consumption. This issue has been debated ad-nauseum and now appears to be inline for approval and implementation across a large part of North America – though not on a federal level. Suffice to say that it entails the creation of a market for the exchange of carbon credits. An industry or individual who produces more CO2 than a set standard must purchase credits on the open-market to offset their costs. We are introducing the externality of global warming on products. According to a recent poll in the Globa and Mail, 87% of Canadians support heavy penalties for industries who do not clean up their act. Nationalized companies should set the example. Provinces who develop their energy supply from gasoline and coal should pay the premium over provinces that favour wind and hydropower. We must understand, as a society, that costs of production include the future costs to society, not just the present and past costs.
Secondly, the government should mandate ecological labelling on consumer products. We need to emulate what has been done with the tobacco industry. All products should have to devote 15% of their packaging to a description of their sourcing methods, production methods, and wastes. The exact content of the labels would have to be debated, but their prominence should not come into question. The certification of ECO LOGO or another certification should play a prominent role on packaging and more importantly, on in-store display cases and promotional material. Three pertinent examples of packaging campaigns include the cigarette, food and canned fish industry.
Cigarette consumption has dramatically been reduced through social awareness and packaging products. Labelling of food products with their nutritional value and ingredients has also helped improve consumer health. The labelling of canned tuna fished with ‘No Dolphins Caught’ forced a large part of the canned tuna industry to adhere to better fishing practices.
We already have a great deal of social environmental awareness; we now need to make the link to individual products. Similar effects such as those described above can be achieved with ecological labelling and it should be noted that polluting products do not have the addictive power of cigarettes – so the change in consumer behaviour should be all the more rapid.
Protecting our industries by preventing the advance of environmental issues is ultimately detrimental to our society. The protection of the U.S. Steel industry and U.S. Car manufacturers has been their downfall. European and Japanese companies, with more stringent environmental requirements and more aware clients, have surpassed their North American competition. Innovation and development are born out of difficult situations; we need to create a society where more consumers reward environmental innovation, not just the lowest price. The constraints of environmental growth in China will breed an entire industry of products, if we lag behind, our economy will suffer the consequences. As a society, we must stop ceding to companies who are resistant to change. The question is not whether environmental problems are the responsibility of industry, government or the individual; but rather how we connect the three sectors to create a progressive movement towards sustainability. By challenging our companies with new challenges we will see the creation of new innovative products, jobs and wealth.
Forest Stewarship Council
Fair Trade
World Business Council for Sustainable Development
ÉEM Inc.